LA’s bid for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games puts an upgraded Coliseum and Exposition Park at the core of its plan, says Inside the Games, a site devoted to the international event. The official plan, published last Friday, is currently unavailable on the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games’ the official site, suggesting that perhaps it was prematurely posted. However, a few images taken from that presentation include a map of the four proposed “clusters” in which Olympic activity will take place. Exposition Park (the Olympic Park) and sites Downtown will form the “Downtown cluster,” and utilize venues including the Walt Disney Concert Hall, which will host taekwondo, and the Convention Center (gymnastics). The LA River, the “spine” of the SCCOG’s plan, will be where canoeing and kayaking go down. (The venue map for Downtown also lists Farmers Field, whose chances at getting built are not looking good.)The Stubhub Center in Carson (the “Avalon cluster”) will have hockey, tennis, and rugby, plus cycling in its Velo Sports Center. A “Westside cluster” will include UCLA’s Drake Stadium and the Riviera Golf Club; beach volleyball will hosted by Santa Monica Beach. The “Harbor cluster” around Long Beach will make use of the Long Beach Convention Center for judo and wrestling, and the marina for sailing. A blurb currently on the home page of the SCCOG site does confirm that Exposition Park will be the “centerpiece” of the plan, and that the idea of having four hubs of activity is still the plan.
Additionally, two new “new and purpose-built Athletes’ Village” sites are planned, one “close to the heart of the city” and the other near the LA River. (It had previously been prophesied that the LA River would
have a part in the Olympic glory, so not too much of a surprise.)
Public transportation played into the proposal, with the SCCOG saying that they are “committed to delivering up to 80 percent of the spectators by public transit,” says swimming site Swim Swam, quoting the official bid documents. Considering that the Expo Line be finished, and the Regional Connector will be online, that might actually be true. (Though it’ll take you at least two buses to get you to Carson’s Stubhub Complex form Downtown.) Now, if only we could lock down transit from LAX.